HONOLULU, Hawaii — The long awaited rematch from the 2019 season goes to the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, as the LMU Lions drop their first of two games on the island of Oahu, 63-76. It was a game that saw several runs, a combined total of eight, each five points or more. 

The game started with one of the more uncommon sequences in basketball, when the Rainbow Wahine were assessed an Administrative Technical for inoperative LED lights on their hoop backboards; thus, the Lions were awarded a free throw before tip-off. Cassandra Gordon got the Lions on the board with the made free throw, and the teams jumped it up with the Lions ahead by one.

After a quick bucket by the Rainbow Wahine, Kimora Sykes knocked down a three to officially open the scoring for the Lions. Despite the quick start, both teams would go on a nearly three minute scoring drought that was ended by the first run of the game, with Hawaii putting up six straight points. Ariel Johnson answered by ending the quarter on a high with a three of her own, knotting the score up at ten a piece.

The second quarter was neck-and-neck the whole way through. Both squads battled back and forth, with neither team leading by more than four points at a given time. Gordon brought some life to the bench by beating the shot clock with a mid-range jumper in the final seconds. The Lions managed to narrowly outscore the Rainbow Wahine 19-17 in the quarter and went into the locker room with a 29-27 lead.

Khari Clark paved the way for the Lions through the first five minutes of the third, scoring six of her 13 points. Foul trouble began to creep back in for Clark though and sidelined her for the remainder of the quarter. In her absence, Alexis Mark stepped up with six points, ultimately leading her to her fourth career double-double and first in a Lion uniform. However, the duo of Mark and Clark was not enough to counter the Rainbow Wahine's two runs of five and nine points. The 9-0 run sent the Rainbow Wahine into the fourth quarter with a comfortable 52-43 lead.

The fourth quarter looked promising for the Lions after a 9-0 run by Johnson and Mark that put them back up by two. The lead would be instantly wiped away when the Rainbow Wahine scored eight straight points of their own in less than a minute; a blow that set the Lions back by six. Johnson continued to put points up on the board in the final three minutes, but was the only Lion to do so. In that time, the Lions were outscored 13-5 on two significant runs by the Rainbow Wahine. Despite strong play from a different Lion each quarter, the Rainbow Wahine as a team were too much to handle down the stretch.

Johnson finished with a team high 22 points, adding four rebounds and six assists to the book. Mark had a season high 15 points and 11 rebounds in her double-double performance, and Clark ended her night with 13 points and three rebounds.

The Lions will have another shot at a win in Honolulu on Tuesday when they face Hawaii Pacific at 6:30 PM Pacific time (4:30 PM Hawaii).